Is A Trip to Citi Field The Cure for Slumping Braves Slugger?

In true Atlanta Braves tradition, their first baseman has been pretty good in New York's Citi Field

Atlanta Braves first baseman Matt Olson has hit pretty well in New York's Citi Field since joining the Braves following the 2021 season. / Wendell Cruz-USA TODAY Sports

The Atlanta Braves have been a good team this season despite some early offensive struggles. 

The lack of home runs this season from the offense that tied MLB’s single-season homer record last season has been the biggest storyline. After hitting 307 homers in 2023, Atlanta enters the weekend series with just 36, good for a tie for 18th and two behind the MLB average. 

But another storyline that’s starting to get traction is the prolonged struggles of first baseman Matt Olson. One of baseball’s best sluggers last season, hitting a league-leading 54 homers and league-leading 139 RBIs with a NL-best .604 slugging percentage, the lefty first baseman is hitting just .200 with a .352 slug. Olson’s mired in a 7-62 slump, one that would look a lot worse had he not picked up hits in each of the team’s last three games. 

Olson’s last homer came on April 7th, more than a month ago, and he has just a .540 OPS since that victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks. 

What’s Citi Field have to do with it? 

In the great team tradition of Chipper Jones, who was so good against the Mets that he named one of his sons after New York’s Shea Stadium, Matt Olson’s historically been pretty good against the Mets in Citi Field. (Jones batted .313 with nineteen home runs in 88 career games in Shea Stadium).

Since 2022, Matt Olson is batting .288 versus the Mets in Citi Field and has launched five home runs out of that ballpark. It’s been a good hitting environment overall for Olson, as he’s put up sixteen RBIs and scored fifteen runs in just sixteen games. 

The pitching matchups also lend some hope for Olson to regain his form, as well. Against Mets Friday night starter Jose Quintana, who Olson last faced on April 11th, Olson went 1-3 with a triple and is 5-15 against in his Braves career. 

While Olson hasn’t faced Saturday’s starter, prospect Christian Scott, he at least has some familiarity with Sunday night’s starter Luis Severino. He went 0-2 with a walk and run scored last season when the Braves met Severino’s old team, the New York Yankees, on August 15th. Prior to that, Olson went 1-5 with an RBI double off of Severino all the way back in 2018 as a member of the Oakland A’s. 

Let’s hope the Atlanta slugger can get back to his slugging ways, starting this weekend.